Washing machine



Oct. 10, 1933. H, L I 1,930,243

WASHING MACHINE Filed July 29, 1952 A TTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 10, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 14 Claims.

This invention relates to washing machines of the kind adapted for household use and wherein clothes or the like are subjected to liquid action to effect cleansing.

A wash usually includes a varied collection of large and small pieces of clothes or the like, some of which are heavy and strong, others of which are light and delicate. To best efiect cleansing and to prevent damaging the more delicate pieces, those pieces of like kind are usually separated from the others and washed together in difierent periods of operation of the machine. The machine is thus seldom loaded to its capacity and repeated loading and unloading is required which unduly prolongs washing of the clothes or the like.

It is an object of my invention to provide a washing machine wherein a batch of heavy and strong clothes or the like and a batch of light and delicate clothes or the like may be washed simultaneously and without being intermingled, whereby the machine may be well loaded in each period of operation, or wherein such batches of clothes or the like may be washed separately as required.

Often only a small batch of clothes of like kind is to be washed as, for example, a batch of lingerie or the like and for which the size of the tub of the machine is much larger than required to accommodate such a batch. An-

other object of my invention is to provide a machine embodying a tub of ordinary siz'e but wherein a small batch of clothes or the like may be washed without utilizing the Whole tub.

A further object is to provide a washing machine having an agitator including a liquid chamber in which clothes may be washed and in which a liquid action is set up that is independent of the liquid action set up in the tub of the machine by the operation of the agitator.

Still further objects of the invention are to provide a washing machine having an agitator including a liquid chamber which may be isolated from or in communication with the tub of the machine; to provide a washing machine wherein the clothes or the like are subjected to a squeezing action to effect cleansing thereof; to provide an agitator which may be expeditiously removed from the machine when so desired and which is heldin position in the machine during operation; and to provide a machine of simple and economical construction and eflicient and positive in operation.

Selected embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of a washing machine embodying one form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1, the lid for the tub having been removed;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one form of my improved agitator;

.Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing another form of my improved agitator; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating another form of my invention.

In the accompanying drawing I show a machine including a base or stand 5 having a circular band 6 including an inturned flange 7 providing a seat on which the rounded lower edge of the tub 8 is rested, a rubber ring 9 closing the joint between the seat and the tub. The driving mechanism for the machine includes a housing 11 carried by the base beneath the tub.

A brace 12 is secured to the band 6 and has a bracket 13 secured thereto and a vertical motor 14 is mounted on this bracket. A pulley 15 is fast on the shaft of the motor 14 and a. belt 16 is directed about this pulley and a pulley 17 fast on the shaft 18 journaled in the housing 11. 0 A pad 19 is provided on the housing 11 and is secured to the band 6 on the inner side thereof to support the adjacent end of the housing. The

lower end of a sleeve 20 is mounted in a neck 21 on the housing 11 and a shaft 22 extends through the sleeve 20 and drives the usual wringer mechanism (not shown). One end of a shaft 23 is journaled in the housing 11 and this shaft projects through the standard 24 and has a polygonal end portion 25 arranged above the upper end of the standard. At the lower end of the standard is a threaded boss 26 which pro- .jects through a medially located opening in the bottom of the tub 8 and a flange27 is provided at the inner end of the threaded boss. A gasket 28 is interposed between the flange 27 and the bottom of the 'tub 8. A sleeve 29 unitary with the housing 11 includes a threaded end portion 30 adapted to be engaged with the threaded boss 26. 'A gasket 31 is interposed between the end of the sleeve and the bottom of the tub 8. The threaded boss 26 is screwed into the threaded end portion 30 to secure the housing and the standard 24 in position and the gaskets 31 and 28 are tightly clamped to prevent leakage through the opening in the bottom of the tub. The wall of the sleeve 29 is cut away and a hood 32 is provided .on the portion of the shaft 23' extending through the sleeve. Any liquid tending to pass along the shaft 231s deflected by the 11 2 hood 32 and is prevented from passing into the housing 11 wherein suitable devices, such as those disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 622,865, filed July 16, which function to impart a movement of slightly more than one hundred and eighty degrees to the shaft 23 when power is supplied thereto from the motor 13. Liquid introduced into the tub 8 is drained therefrom through the pipe 33 which is normally closed by a suitable cock (not shown). The upper end of the tub 8 is rolled to provide a head 34 and the edge of the lid 35 is rested on this bead to removably support the lid in tub closing position. The foregoing is the preferred form of construction with which my invention is used but it is not limited to the details set forth for these may be changed or modified without departing from the purview of my invention.

In washing machines of the kind to which my invention appertains the tub is partially filled with liquid which is set in motion by some suitable agitating means and the resulting liquid movement or action effects the cleansing of the clothes. Among the objects of my invention is to provide a novel agitator for creating the liquid action in the tub of the machine. In the drawing I have shown an agitator in the form of an oscillator 36 which includes a sleeve 37 having a bearing portion 38 adjacent the upper end thereof. The bearing portion 38 rests on a disc 39 supported on the flange 40 on the standard 24. A bearing 41 is provided on the standard 24 above the disc 39 and is embraced by the inner end of the bearing portion 38. A bearing collar 42 is provided on the standard 24 intermediate the flange 40 and the threaded boss 26 and engages a bearing surface 43 in the sleeve 3'7. The engagement of the bearing portion 38 with the disc 39 supports the oscillator 36 on the standard 24 and the cooperation between the bearing portion 38 and the bearing 41 and the bearing collar 42 with the bearing surface 43 guides the oscillator 36 during movement to prevent wobbling or other undesirable movement thereof. A flanged ring 44 secured to the upper end of the sleeve 37 and a peripheral flange 45 on the clutch mem.

ber 46 is movable across the ring 44 between the end of the sleeve 37 and the flange on this ring. A polygonal opening 47 is provided in the clutch member 46 and receives the polygonal end portion 25 on the shaft 23 so that the clutch member is slidable relative to the shaft 23. At the lower end of the clutch member 46 are lugs 48 movable to and from notches 49 provided in the upper end of the sleeve 37. A knob 49 is provided on the clutch member 46\and by grasping this knob the clutch member may be so moved that the lugs 48 are seated in the notches 49 to connect the shaft and oscillator or so that the lugs are withdrawn from the notches to disconnect the oscillator and shaft. A spring-pressed ball 50 is provided in one of the faces of the polygonal portion 25 and seats ina notch (not shown) in the adjacent wall of the polygonal opening 47 to releasably retain the clutch member in its lower position whereat the shaft 23 and oscillator 36 are interconnected so that uponthe one hundred and eighty degreeoscillation of the shaft 23 the oscillator is similarly moved. The oscillator 36 may be removed from the standard 24 by merely being raised vertically but to prevent undesired displacement of the oscillator I provide a spring-pressed plunger 51 which engages the underside of the flange 40. when the oscillator is in proper position on the 1932, are provided,

and from the clothes standard 24 this plunger holds it against vertical displacement. When the oscillator is to be removed, the plunger 51 is retracted and the oscillator may then be lifted off the standard.

The lower end of the oscillator is flared outwardly, as indicated at 52, and the peripheral edge of this outwardly flared portion is disposed substantially midway between the standard 24 and the wall of the tub 8. The liquid agitating means of the oscillator includes a wall 53which projects upwardly from the outwardly flared portion 52 adjacent the peripheral edge thereof and in parallel relation but spaced from the sleeve 37. The wall 53 is of sinuous outline and in the present instance includes four ribs 54 of rounded cross-section and having rounded pockets 55 arranged intermediate thereof. The ribs and pockets extend substantially parallel with the wall of the tub 8. When the agitator is set in operation after the tub has been substantially two-thirds filled with saponified liquid, the ribs 54 so agitate the liquid that definite currents are set up therein which effect cleansing of clothes or the like submerged in the liquid.

I have found that the cleansing of the clothes 100 may be expedited if they are subjected to a squeezing action and to this end I form in the wall of the tub inwardly directed protuberances 56 and intermediate thereof 1 form depressions 57 of a size equal or substantially equal to the protuber- 5 ances. The alternate protuberances and depressions are rounded and smoothly merge one into the other. The upper and lower ends of the protuberances and depressions are spaced from the top and bottom of the tub and smoothly merge 110 into the tub wall and these protuberances and depressions are entirely free of sharp corners and angles which might have an abrasive effect upon clothes or the like contacting therewith. The clothes or the like are submerged in the liquid between the agitator 36 and the wall of the tub 8 and as the agitator is set in operation the ribs 54 successively move into alignment with the protuberances 56 and the depressions 57. At the time one of the ribs 54 moves past one of the protuberances 56 the clothes intermediate these parts are subjected to pressure and liquid is squeezed therefrom but as soon as the rib 54 moves into alignment with the adjacent depression 57 the pressure is relieved and the liquid tends to flow back into the clothes. This alternate subjection of the clothes to pressure and relief of pressure induces the liquid to flow into which, coupled with the liquid action created by the agitator 36, effects 13o cleansing thereof.

. It has been stated .that it is desirable to wash heavy and strong clothes or the like separately from light and delicate clothes and the like. In the past collections of such clothes have been washed separately, that is to say, first the light and delicate pieces would be submerged in the liquid in the tub and subjected to the washing action and after these light and delicate pieces had been removed, the strong and heavy pieces g a heavy and strong clothes may be immersed in the liquid in the tub and light and delicate clothes may be immersed in the liquid in the compartment 58. The wall 53 efiectively separates these articles of clothing and hence they may be washed simultaneously and without intermingling. In the form of agitator illustrated in Fig. 3, the liquid in the compartment 58 is isolated from the liquid in the tub but the oscillator or agitator 36' illustrated in Fig. 4 includes a wall 53' which has a series of openings 59 in the pockets 55 thereof and communication is established through these openings 59 between the liquid in the tub 8 and the liquid in the chamber or compartment 58' of this oscillator or agitator, The compartment 58 may be filled with liquid without introducing any liquid into a tub 8 and this permits washing of a small batch of clothes without the necessity of filling the tub of the machine. A small batch of clothes may also be washed in the compartment 58' but in this instance liquid must also be introduced into the tub 8 because of the intercommunication between the compartment 58 and the tub throughthe openings 59. To prevent displacement of the clothes or the like from the compartment 58 during movement of the agitator, a lid 60 is provided which closes the upper end of the compartment 58, a similar lid 60' being provided to close the compartment 58. To empty liquid from the compartment 58, the plunger 51 is retracted and the oscillator or agitator is lifted from the standard 24.

I have described how the ribs 54 cooperate with the protuberances 56 to effect squeezing of the clothes and while the -provision of protuberances 56 and depressions 57 facilitates this squeezing action, an effective washing action may also be obtained in a tub which does not have these protuberances and depressions in the wall thereof, such a tub being illustrated in Fig. 5. The clothes immersed in the liquid in such a tub are also alternately subjected to and relieved of pressure as the ribs 54 and pockets 55 move thereby, but I have found that the provision of the protuberances 56 and depressions 5'? enhances the resulting squeezing action and increases the effectiveness thereof.

Preferred forms of my invention have been illustrated and described but these are capable of variation and modiflcationand I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth but desire to avail myself of such changes and modifications as fall within the ambit of the following claims:

I claim:

1. In a washing machine, a liquid containing tub, an agitator oscillatably mounted in said tub and having-an upstanding wall providing a liquid chamber, said wall having openings distributed throuhout the height thereof through which liquid may flow back and forth between the chamber and the tub, said tub and said chamber being adapted to have separate batches of clothes immersedin the liquid therein, means formed in said wall to efiect cleansing of the 'separate batches of clothes, and means for operating said agitator. I

2. In a washing machine, a tub,' a standard in said tub, an oscillator removablymounted on said standard and having a liquid chamber therein, means for releasably fastening said oscillator to said standard, operating means for ating said agitator,

movement to said oscillator, and means on said oscillator and tub wall including alternate ribs and pockets extending substantially parallel one to the other for imparting movement to liquid in said tub and oscillator.

3. In a washing machine, a tub, a-standard in said tub, an agitator mounted on said standard, operating means for imparting movement to said agitator, said agitator having a sinuous upstanding wall free of abrasive corners and providing a liquid chamber and agitating means, and means closing said liquid chamber.

4. In a washing machine, a tub, a standard in said tub, an oscillator including a sleeve removably disposedabout said standard and supported thereon, a wall on said oscillator forming inner and outer clothes receiving chambers and extending around and substantially parallel with said sleeve and providing a liquid chamber on said oscillator, releasable means fastening said sleeve to said standard and adapted to be released to permit removal of said oscillator from said tub, means formed on said wall for agitating the clothes in both chambers, and operating means for imparting movement to said oscillator.

5. Ina washing machine, a tub, a standard in said tub, an oscillator including a sleeve disposed about said standard and supporting said oscillator in said tub, said sleeve including a downwardly and outwardly flared portion at the lower end thereof, a sinuous wall extending up-- wardly from said outwardly flared portion in spaced relation with said sleeve and providing a liquid chamber on said oscillator and liquid agitating means, and operating means for imparting no movement to said oscillator.

6. In a washing machine, a tub, a standard in said tub, an oscillator including a sleeve disposed about said standard and supporting said oscillator in said tub, said sleeve including a n5 downwardly and outwardly flared portion at the lower end thereof, a sinuous wall extending upwardly from said outwardly flared portion in spaced relation with said sleeve and providing a liquid chamber on said oscillator and formed of alternate ribs and pockets extending substan-, tially parallel with the wall of the tub-and providing liquid agitating means, and means for imparting movement to said oscillator.

"I. In a washing machine, a tub, a standard in said tub, an oscillator including a sleeve disposed about said standard and supporting said oscillator in said tub, said sleeve including a downwardly and outwardly flared portion at the lower end thereof, a sinuous wall extending upwardly from said outwardly flared portion in spaced relation with said sleeve and providing a liquid chamber on said oscillator and formed of alternate ribs and pockets extending substantially parallel with the wall of the tub and providing liquid agitating means, said wall having openings in said pockets through which communication is established between said chamber and the tub, and operating means for imparting movement to saidoscillator.

8. In a washing machine, a tub adapted to receivev liquid and a batch of clothes, an agitator in the tub and/Having a chamber also adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, the side wall of said chamber including means for agitating the contents of the tub and the contents of the chamber conjointly or selectively, dependent upon whether there is liquid in the chamber or the tub or both and means for oper- 9. In a. washing machine, a tub adapted to receive liquid and a batch or clothes, an agitator in the tub and including a bottom and a wall extending upward from said bottom and providing a cleansing chamber also adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, said wall having exterior and interior protuberances to agitate the contents of the tub and the contents of the chamber conjointly or selectively, dependent upon whether there is liquid in the chamber or the tub or both and means for operating said agitator.

10. In a washing machine, ,a tub adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, an agitator in the tub and having a chamber also adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, said chamber having a sinuous side wall to agitate the contents of the tub and the contents of the chamber conjointly or selectively, dependent upon whether there is liquid in the chamber or the tub or both and means for operating said agitator.

11. In a washing machine, a tub adaptedto receive liquid and a batch of clothes, an agitator in the tub and having a chamber also adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, the side wall of said chamber including exterior and interior rounded corners and pockets to agitate the contents of the tub and the contents of the chamber conjointly or selectively, dependent upon whether there is liquid in the chamber or the tub or both and means for operating .said agitator.

12. In a washing machine, a tub adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, an agitator in the tub and including a bottom and a sinuous wall extending upward from said bottom and providing a cleansing chamber also adapted to receive liquid and a batch of clothes, said sinuous wall being adapted to agitate the contents of the tub and the contents of the chamber conjointly or selectively, dependent upon whether there is liquid in the chamber or the tub or both, means for preventing the liquid from splashing out of the chamber, and means for operating said agitator.

13. In a washing machine, a tub, a standard in said tub, an agitator mounted on said standard, and operating means for imparting movement to said agitator, said agitator having a sinuous upstanding wall free of abrasive corners and providing a. liquid chamber and agitating means.

14. In a washing machine, a tub having substantially vertically extending alternate protuberances and depressions at the wall thereof, an agitator in said tub and including upstanding wall substantially parallel with said tub wall and providing a compartment on said agitator, said wall having alternate interior and exterior protuberances, the interior protuberances agitating the contents of the chamber and the ex- I terior protuberances agitating the contents of the tub and cooperating with the alternate protuberances and depressions at the tub wall to squeeze articles in the tub intermediate the tub wall and the agitator.

ARTHUR H. LABISKY. 

